Separator and blower for insulating materials



Aprifi 29, 1941. c. Q HALL 2,239,913

SEPARATOR AND BLOWER FOR INSULQTING MATERIALS Filed March 24, 1939 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR c. GHai/O BY Q. QJAQL ATTORNEY C. C. HALL April29, 141.

SEPARATOR AND BLOWER FOR INSULATING MATERIALS Filed March 2 1959 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR C. CZHaZZ.

Y E N R m T A Patented Apr. 29, 1941 r orrics 'SEPARATQR AND BLOWER FORINSULAT- ING MATERIALS 7 Carl C. Hall, Woodland, Calif.

Application March 24, 1939, Serial No. 264,048

1' Claim.

This invention relates in general to apparatus employed in connectionwith the building insulation art and in particular the invention isdirected to apparatus for use with insulating material which is capableof being carried from a point outside the building and discharged intothe building by means of an air blast created by a blower assembly andthereafter conveyed in a tube system.

One type of insulating material which is capable of placement in abuilding by the air blast method is red Wood bark, for this material isnow being used extensively due to the fact that it is inexpensive andyet relatively high in insulating characteristics. The bark is initiallygIOUlld, cut or stripped into small fragments and is then compressedinto a bale for ease of transportation. However, before such materialcan be placed in a building, it is necessary that the compressed mass beloosened or fiufied.

Heretofore it has been the practice to accomplish this ffufiing by handand this entailed a substantial labor cost as well as unnecessaryconsumption of time.

It is therefore the principal object of my invention to provide a powerdriven apparatus, including a blower assembly, into which the compressedmaterial is fed; the blower assembly being designed to separate theindividual pieces of bark, or, in other words, to flufi the mass anddischarge the same with an air blast into the tube or conduit systemleading from lthe blower assembly to the point of discharge in thebuilding.

A further object of this invention is to provide a blower assembly forthe purpose described which includes a unique form of fan or impellerarranged in novel combination with a feed chute or material intakepassage.

It is also an object of the invention to provide apparatus of the typedescribed which is readily portable and can thus be conveniently movedfrom job to job.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the. purposefor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claim.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section of the same.

Figure 3 is a top plan of the structure.

Figure 4 is an end view of the blower unit, detached.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the apparatus comprises a portable rectangular frame structureI, which may be mounted on wheels for convenience of transportation.

Mounted on the frame structure at one end is a blower housing 2,disposed with its axis extending lengthwise of the apparatus and formedwith a laterally projecting discharge passage 3 at the bottom.

A drive shaft i projects into the housing from one end thereof and issuitably supported from a cross member Id of the frame at one end of thehousing as shown in Fig. 2. The shaft is driven at a suitable speed bymeans of a belt drive connection 5 with an electric motor 6 mounted onthe frame structure above the housing and to one side of the same.

Inside the housing but spaced from the opposite side thereof, the driveshaft carries a disc I on which is mounted a plurality of radiallyprojecting arms 8. These arms at their outer end support paddles 9disposed substantially radial with the shaft.

At said one end, the housing is formed with an air intake opening I0extending upwardly from the shaft; the effective size of said openingbeing controlled by a vertically adjustable slide shutter H mountedabove the opening.

The other end of the housing is formed with a preferably circularmaterial intake opening I2; a hopper or chute [3 leading downwardlytoward said opening with its lower portion curved and alined with thelower half of said opening. The hopper leads from the adjacent end of arelatively large fiat platform It mounted on the frame structure, andenclosed along the sides by upstanding side members I5, the portions ofwhich adjacent the chute converge the same as shown at It. The platformextends to the corresponding end of the frame and is exposed or open atsaid end for the reception of a bale thereon. The platform is disposedat such a height that an operator standing on the ground mayconveniently manipulate the baled material.

In operation, a bale of bark in an unbroken condition is first placed onthe platform. The bale is then stripped of its bindings and allowed tofall apart, being, if necessary, forcibly disintegrated into relativelysmall portions. Such portions are then pushed ahead until they slidedown the chute and into the blower housing, in which the blower unit isof course already rotating. As the light bark enters the housing, therapidly rotating paddles, aided by the suctional force set up by suchrotation, causes the bark to be thrown upwardly and about the housingand thus thoroughly separated and fiuffed before being dischargedthrough passage 3.

A sectional flexible conduit unit, one section of which is shown at I1,is of course secured at one end over the outlet 3 while the apparatus isin use, so that the flufied bark being discharged from the blower may beconveniently conveyed to the point of use and deposited in place in thebuilding without further handling, I

This suctional effect on the material is aided by the position and sizeof the central disc i of the rotary blower unit relative to opening l2.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as-do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a separating and blowing apparatus for building insulation material,and which apparatus includes a substantially cylindrical housingincluding spaced end plates, the housing having an intake opening and adischarge outlet therein, a driven shaft, extending axially into thehousing through one end plate and terminating short of the other, arotary paddle unit mounted on said shaft within the housing, and an opentopped feed chute leading to said intake opening; the paddle unitincluding a circular disc mounted concentrically at the end of the shaftin facing relation and relatively close to but spaced from said'otherend plate, said intake opening being circular and formed in said otherend plate concentric to the disc, the diameter of the disc beingsubstantially greater than the diameter of said intake opening, and thespace between the disc and said other end plate being unobstructed.

CARL C, HALL.

